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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Note to the Reader | |
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| About the Author | |
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| Introduction: Becoming a Savvy Investor | |
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| Establishing a Frame of Reference | |
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| From "Dumb" Barter to Intelligent Agents | |
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| Point-Counterpoint | |
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| Stocks | |
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| Mutual Funds | |
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| Bonds | |
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| ETFs | |
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| Options | |
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| Futures | |
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| Summary | |
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| Confronting Information Overload | |
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| Investor Constraints | |
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| Investor Choices | |
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| Investor Safety | |
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| Stocks and Equity Markets | |
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| Varieties of Stocks | |
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| Just What Is a Security, Anyway? | |
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| Issues and Underwriters: Why Does a Corporation Sell Stockto the Public? | |
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| Why Investors Buy Stock | |
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| Summing Up Total Return: Dividends and Capital Gains | |
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| A Letter to Our Shareholders: Annual and Quarterly Reports (and Filings) | |
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| Making Sense of Types, Classes, and Other Stock Categories:A Map of the World of Stock | |
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| Stock Markets | |
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| The Big Board | |
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| The Incredible Growth of Trading and Capital | |
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| National Association of Securities Dealers Automated QuotationSystem (Nasdaq) | |
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| Technology, Dark Pools, and the Evolution of a Unified Market | |
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| Three Views of the Numbers | |
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| Fundamental Analysis | |
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| Technical Analysis | |
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| Quantitative Analysis | |
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| Where to Find Information on Stocks and Financial Markets | |
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| A Selection of Information Sources on the Financial Markets | |
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| How to Buy and Sell Stock | |
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| Full-Service Brokers | |
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| Discount Brokers | |
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| Financial Intermediaries | |
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| Direct Purchase | |
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| If It Sounds Too Good to Be True . . . Protecting Yourself from Stock Scams | |
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| A Note on Financial Planners | |
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| Mutual Funds and Investment Companies | |
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| A History and Overview of the Mutual Fund Business | |
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| Open-End versus Closed-End Funds | |
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| Index Funds | |
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| Load versus No-Load Funds | |
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| Advantages of Mutual Funds | |
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| Simplicity | |
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| Diversification | |
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| Access to New Issues | |
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| Economies of Scale | |
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| Professional Management | |
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| Indexing | |
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| Disadvantages | |
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| Impact of One-Time Charges and Recurring Fees on Fund Performance | |
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| Hidden Cost of Brokerage | |
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| Some Hidden Risks of Fund Ownership | |
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| Sources of Information on Mutual Funds | |
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| Investment Company Institute Classification of Types of Funds | |
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| Lipper Analytical Services | |
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| Morningstar | |
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| Alternative Investments | |
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| Hedge Funds | |
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| Funds of Funds | |
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| Other Alternatives | |
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| Bonds and Other Fixed-Income Securities | |
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| Seven Characteristics of Bonds | |
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| The Lifespan of Bonds | |
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| Interest versus Discount | |
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| Relationship of Price to Yield | |
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| Four Important Yield Measures | |
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| Credit Quality, Ratings, and Insurance | |
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| Call and Related Features | |
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| Fixed versus Floating Rates and Foreign Currencies | |
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| Chapter Fifteen: How the Other $30 Trillion Is Invested | |
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| Treasuries | |
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| Corporates | |
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| Mortgage-Backed Securities | |
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| Municipals | |
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| Summary | |
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| Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives: Engines of Financial Innovation | |
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| Chapter Sixteen: Options | |
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| Exchange-Traded Options | |
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| Combination Strategies | |
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| Determining the Value of an Option | |
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| Chapter Seventeen: Futures | |
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| A Seller's Need to Hedge . . | |
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| Some Buyers Need to Hedge, Too | |
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| Speculation or Insurance? Maybe a Little of Both | |
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| Actuals versus Cash-Settled Contracts | |
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| Margin and Collateral | |
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| Chapter Eighteen: Other Derivatives | |
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| Summing Up Risk and Return | |
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| Chapter Nineteen: How Well Are My Investments Doing? | |
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| The Basics of Return | |
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| Annualized Returns: Arithmetic (Simple) or Geometric (Compound)? | |
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| Time-Weighted Returns vs. Money-Weighted Returns | |
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| Complicating Factors | |
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| Chapter Twenty: Coming to Grips with the Many Dimensions of Risk | |
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| A Definition of Investment Risk | |
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| The Relativity of Risk | |
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| What Is Market Risk? | |
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| "It Will Fluctuate" | |
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| Other Kinds of Investment Risk: From the Quantifiable to the Subjective | |
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| Balancing Risk and Return | |
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| Chapter Twenty-One: A Crescendo of Change | |
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| Again, We Ask, What Is a Market? | |
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| Glossary | |
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| Index | |